High Times

Dune Fly

2011-04-15T21:01:00.000-07:00

It has been on and with all the daylight now there's plenty of time to get after it during the week!

Waddell Again...

2011-04-12T10:51:00.000-07:00

4-9-11: A nice day out at Waddell. We had 8 gliders in the air at once at one point. Eric and Wayne had their first high flights here and the bluff welcomed them with open arms.

Presidents' day at Mt. Bachelor, OR.

2011-02-24T10:23:00.000-08:00

3 days after the big storm and still plenty of goodness to be had.

Mt. Bachelor, OR from Ryan Goebel on Vimeo.

2010-12-18T13:54:00.000-08:00

Joe Myers posted these photos the other day. Brought back some great memories of the whitewater days. This sequence was taken at Maytag on the N. Yuba, a substantial class V at this flow (around 4,200 cfs), around 3 times the typical commercially runnable flow. We blew off our customers and ran it anyway. One of my most memorable swims shortly followed. Caught these Turkey Vultures sunning up on the coast just north of my place on the way to work. I'm pretty stoked on the new camera body I picked up (Nikon D90). I've had some nice glass hidden away since the film days and looking forward to putting it back to work.

Birthday Air

2010-11-27T11:15:00.000-08:00

(above-looking South to Pacifica)
We've had a pretty marginal fall, conditions have been difficult to predict. The weather really turned on this weekend though and I got a great B-day present at Funston, and a perfect day at Marina (bottom). Good flying with great friends.

Above: over Daly City
Below: looking North to Ocean Beach
Below: Dune flies at Marina

KING MOUNTAIN 2010

2010-07-21T11:07:00.000-07:00

Edit: FINAL RESULTS

Open Class

Dave Gibson (also longest flight award at 119 miles)
Kurt Bynum
Mike Daley
Scot Huber
Jonathan Dietch
Ken Muscio

(13th Wayne)
(I stumbled in at 26th I think)

Rec. Class (must have flown less than 75 miles to date in a single flight)

Dugan Gravage
LJ Omara
Fred Clement

(I landed 7th in this class)

I heard rumor that Scot Huber accumulated the most miles in all six days combined and will be the leader in National Rankings for Open Distance XC in the USA (nice work Scot!)

Day 1 was a great day, altitudes to 18k were reached, light clouds forming out of the mouths of the valley creating a cloud street to Duboise, followed by a blue hole, then OD before Henry's. Kurt waited around for 2 hours for it to pass before landing at Sunset at Henry's Lake. (I made it to the cement plant today 48 miles)

Day 2 was challenging and turbulent along the ridge. A turn point was called and Dave Gibson made the 52 miles, returned to King and then went out for another 10 miles. (I had a short flight to Pass Creek)

Day 3 (today): Some mammata and light virga overhead, looks like a late start may provide for some clearing of skies and decent flights. Forecast is for great weather 82-90 for the remainder of the week. (edit) Good day for a late start. Joe Evens won the day on his single surface, flying low to minimize the strong headwind. That guy is an animal! (I made it to Mackay Airstrip bonus LZ finally getting past Pass Creek Canyon. I flew the last 2 miles on full VG, no turns and just cleared the fence at the end of the runway by 50', whew!)

The last 3 days of the event were equally great though I didn't keep up my log. This is the greatest event that I get the opportunity to fly. The features and weather in this part of Idaho are as beautiful, challenging and exhilarating as anywhere I can imagine flying. And yet the greatest part of being here is the camaraderie of the pilots on hand. Some of the most gifted xc pilots and coolest characters make their way here from across the U.S. to gather in a summer camp for big kids. It is the best. I can't wait for next year!

Back in the saddle.. Waddell.

2010-04-05T22:55:00.000-07:00

Spring is on.. Went out to Waddell on Saturday. 20 or more kite-boarders and a dozen surfers below. I was the only hang-glider out though. Sweet 3 hour flight with a couple of red tails to chase and a few whales migrating below. Right in my backyard, I will never tire of this view...

Istanbul

2010-03-08T19:28:00.000-08:00

I had a great opportunity to head out with Mele to Istanbul last week and explore a bit. We stayed in the Bebek and Sultanahmet neighborhoods on the Bosphorus. I really didn't know all that much about Turkey prior to the trip, but the experience left me wanting to explore much more of the nearby regions/countries.
Mele was busy the first half of the week, so I went off and explored the coastal areas of the city. I found the Turks to be very hospitable, and even with only a handful of phrases I made my way around the city easily. The history in this city is incredible. A true crossroad of East and West. On the one hand Istanbul feels like a European city, cobbled streets wind through neighborhoods, great (I mean incredible) food can be found everywhere, and people are always decked out in their best. The influence of the Muslim religion is all around you and Mosques seem to around every corner. The Imam chants broadcast from the minarets (5 times a day) called the faithful to prayer starting at 5 in the morning each day.

One thing that I'm always reminded of in Europe is the importance of focusing on one thing at a time. Even/especially when that one thing is kicking back and enjoying the day.
Below is a picture of the Bosphorus bridge which is artfully illuminated with blue lighting at night. The bridge connects the two halves of the city and links the continent of Europe to Asia (Turkey spans both).
One thing Istanbul has an abundance of is vagabond bands of cats and dogs. The cats were everywhere. As Mele put it, Bob Barker would have a field day out there. Mele came to Istanbul to interview with Bogazici University for an associate professor position (Hoja) teaching in the department of Science Education. She had made contacts there during a previous conference visit and they flew her out and put us up on campus.
Bogazici's campus was originally started by the US in the the late 1800's as the first American University abroad. It has since become Turkey's most prestigious state university. The campus still has some buildings with American style and names. The students are nearly all Turkish, but classes lectures are in English.
Her interview consisted of teaching class, a job talk and an open presentation on informal learning. All of which went very well and I have a feeling the offer will follow in the next couple days. After Mele fulfilled her time at the University we stayed a couple days in Sultanahmet and visited some of the local sites. Below are a few pictures of the inside of the Blue Mosque, a significant site for Muslims. The Mosque is enormous. Six minarets surround the massive dome roof line with intricate design and paintings throughout.

Entering the mosque requires everyone remove their shoes. From that point on the men and women have a very different experience. Men proceed to the main prayer area in front of the Imam. Women who enter the mosque must wear a head scarf and be covered in clothing. They then have sit behind screens to perform their rites. This in the same city where mini skirts and winter boots are presently in fashion. The contrast in this city and in Turkey in general is stark.We hit the big tourist destination known as the Grand Bazaar for an afternoon as well as another spice bazaar. The Grand Bazaar has been around since the late 1400's and houses over 1200 vendors. It is an indoor market (once a stable) that covers numerous city blocks. Below is one of the many entrances.
We also stopped off to watch a potter work some magic.
Overall, it was a lot packed into a short vacation and really got the travel bug back into my blood. I can still taste the food. Visions of evil eye charms, backgammon, tea glasses, sardine fishermen, insane cab drivers, ablutions, and the people of Turkey will stay with me for a while. Can't wait to plan the next trip abroad!

Cabo Pulmo

2009-12-17T20:14:00.000-08:00

Over Thanksgiving Mele and I went to my Aunt's new home down in Cabo Pulmo (Sea of Cortez) for a week. Gary and Melissa flew down from New Mexico to meet us there. I've spent a lot of time in Baja and every time I visit it takes less than a day to unwind. I think we should consider trading Texas for Baja. I went out on my first dive this trip, pretty amazing coral reef in Pulmo, the largest on the East side of the Pacific. After getting out of the water we cruised up along a few humpbacks. Incredible days.
Right alongside this beautiful underwater world is the desert of Baja Sur. This has been a really wet year (more than 8" of rain). I made a few attempts to find a trail I'd been on a number of years ago before we finally found our way. (Mele and Melissa on photo safari)
Below: Nice use of rocks to warn drivers that the road is gone.
Some spectacular light shows while we were there. Thunder, lightning, rainbows and sunrises over the Sea of Cortez. Last shot was a sunset South of Todos Santos on the Pacific side. Can't wait to go back. A couple more pictures here.

Thanks to Deb & Pat for setting us up with home, car, and a turnkey vacation - Cheers!

Test day at Waddell

2009-10-20T22:40:00.000-07:00

So somehow John Taylor managed to get a glider for $50 on ebay and as it turns out it was really a steal. He flew his new RAM air today for the first time after driving to Santa Barbara to pick it up from some guy who got it from a tow truck driver... The story goes on, but as it turns out John got himself a sweet new ride for the coast.
I spent the other evening downloading a firmware hack for my Canon G9 camera so that I could do more wing mounted shots and make use of other features not presented by Canon. The hack is on Wiki called CDHK and has tons of great uses for Canon powershot cameras. The next project is to convert a wireless doorbell into a usb remote for the camera. I've got the parts laid out just have to set aside one more evening to finish it up. The wingmount worked out great and I ended up with around 100 pictures to sift through from this evening's flight. Great fun out there today!

Slide Mountain

2009-09-29T18:48:00.000-07:00

After seeing the forecast for Slide this weekend Trey and I bolted up there for a quick two day trip. We left around 5:00am from Santa Cruz and got in two great days. The lift was punchy down low but the thermals were big and smooth and I topped out both days around 14,000'.
Above: Kings Beach from South of Slide.
Below: Looking SE from slide over Washoe Lake to McClellan.
Trey had a personal best getting up well over 13,000 and hit 100 hours of flight time looking out over Tahoe. Stephane put us up for the night in Kings Beach (always good to hook up with old friends) and we hit the hill again on Sunday morning. Conditions were a bit more challenging though and I spent a good half hour working rotor off the South spine just trying to stay up. A large flush sent a lot of pilots to the LZ and then some potent thermals started to break through.
Above: Looking West to Slide from over McClellan.
Just when I thought it was over I hooked a corker that took me over the top of Slide and I pulled on the VG and raced across the valley to McClellan where I quickly got back up to just under 14k'. The 360 view from there was incredible. The Sierras were laid out in front of me to the West with Tahoe peaking over. To the North and South the valley stretched out as far as I could see and the lift was glass off smooth at the top (but chilly!). In the East was an enticing XC Mecca.
Above: West to the Sierras from behind McClellanAbove: Grin of a glutton heading over Duck.
It was late Sunday and unfortunately we hadn't arranged for a driver because it was a perfect day to fly XC. This was my first loop around the Washoe Valley though so I was very content to work an out and return. I made it all the way around and came in just below launch at Slide before working light lift and heading to the LZ after 3 hours of airtime.

Above: Cross Country Paradise to the East.
Jimmie and David came up for their first taste of big mountain air and skyed out for personal bests. Both of them charged their launches, had great flights and flawless landings.Grins and coldies all around in the LZ. The locals showed us some great hospitality, and showed us how it's done. Steve flew home to Minden Sunday. It was good to fly with Jeff again and Nile is getting good fast. A big weekend full of epic stories for all of us. Good Times.

The Home Front

2009-09-20T22:29:00.000-07:00

Spent this weekend local. Hit the fair and got some of the local flavor with Mele. I hadn't been to a county fair in quite a while and Watsonville does it up. All kinds of 4H, rodeo and racing.. oh and fried foods. Some classic carnies and lots of graffiti art prizes. We had a really good time. Saturday got some airtime in at Waddell, just average conditions, but Mele got some nice pictures (below). I can see I've got a little work to do on my harness, but overall its pretty clean. I'm still blown away by the speed and glide of my new glider. It just goes.

St. John, Indian Valley, San Benitos, McClure... Summer has flown by..

2009-09-14T20:56:00.000-07:00

I've been flying a lot over the past month. Mele took off to spend time in Turkey following a conference and I've been home all alone with my hang-glider. The Sonoma Wings put on a great fly-in as usual at St. John and I had some gratifying flights out there. Conditions were smokey but cross-country flights were in order and beer suck propelled me into 1st on the short race on Day 2.

Labor Day we headed up to Indian Valley and spent a couple days hiking during blown out days, followed by a good day with localized lift that allowed us to drift in the direction of Lake Almanor before cruising back down to a nice field near Taylorsville. Quite a turnout this year. Great to see all the Sonoma, Bay Area, and Reno pilots converging for a good party at a spectacular site. Lots of inspired new pilots on hand as well.
Above and below: Lake Almanor from South of the Burn Launch.Ben, Wayne, Joe and Mario (driving) down near Taylorsville enjoying barley pops on a country road after landing out.This past weekend we did a double-header. Went South with Tom (Dogboy) deep into the San Benitos. The forecast had fallen apart on us, but it ended up producing a rare glass-off that lasted late into the afternoon. The terrain down there is incredible, potential still immeasurable, and the 200+ quarter-horses in the working ranch below remind you all the while that you are in a special place.Above: Ben and gliders at launch.
Below: Cruising around 4-5k' in glass-off conditions Big Sur/Coastal range in the distance.Topping off the weekend we got a call from Chris Valley to rally for a one day trip up to McClure. Chris' intuition was spot on and the conditions were great. McClure is always challenging. The landing zone is the primary thermal generator most days and always induces some exciting approaches and landings. As a result this site breeds some of the best most aggressive pilots in the Golden State. Some really great guys to hang out and fly with. You can't beat a day when KM gives you a nod as you core up with him on his turf. Good to get in an overdue day in with the Ma'Lode clan.

Above: Trey and KM at launch.
Below: Looking past launch (left ridge) over Lake McClure.
Above: Trey hooks up with a thermal in his, my, and previously Chris' experienced U2. In capable hands.
Below: Looking out over Don Pedro Lake.

A great month of flying. Flying frequently with Ben this summer season has really helped me to become a more knowledgable, and competent pilot. Hang-gliding is one of those activities where there is no substitute for experience, but having good flying mates sure does speed up the process.
Mele gets back into town tomorrow! When life is good, it's really, really good.

King Mountain Nationals

2009-08-03T22:37:00.000-07:00

Last week Mele and I made the trek up to Idaho for the Nationals at King Mountain (Dan Gravage's image above). This is an annual six day cross country flying event. Each day one of the four routes is called based on the wind direction and John Kangas' weather voodoo. This year (my first) served up some challenging weather patterns. Each blue bird morning quickly developed, and overdeveloped along our routes with thunder clouds, virga and gust fronts.
Above: Pilots set up on the lower launch. Winds were often light and/or cross and the launch is shallow but good thermal cycles were coming through if you had patience. (Mele's photo)
Below: King Mountain (10,600' or so) from Moore. You can make out the gliders halfway up the mountain. (Mele's photo) click all to enlarge.
Below: You can't quite make out the gliders on this one, but there are still some up there. Mele and I decided to give up before the weather took hold this day and headed South toward the Sawtooths for a swim and some fly fishing.There were some great flying days though. Everyone talks about how much you can improve your skills by attending a competition. After flying in big, adverse conditions and being around so many great pilots I have to say I agree completely. The community at King was one of the best I've experienced anywhere and in one week I aquired insights from fellow pilots that I will draw upon far into the future. (not a lot of aerial photos this trip, most of the time I had a death grip on the base tube)
Below: fellow Bobblehead and Ace pilot, Bruce Bousfield, points out to me the shortest route to the bailout;) (Mele's photo)Below: over King Mountain looking NW to the Lemhi range in the distance.Below: Leaving King, over the back, heading over the Howe Valley on route 3.Below: overlooking Mr. Nasty (a well deserved name) and Sunset Ridge. around 14,000'.Mele was my chase driver throughout this competition and did some serious wheelin' on a couple retrieves as well as keeping me organized in the mornings. Thank you, thank you, thank you!There is so much more to this place, competition, and group of people that I could go on about. Better for you to just go see it for yourself. I can't imagine missing it again.
www.flykingmountain.com

Hull Mountain

2009-07-13T21:42:00.000-07:00

Convergence! After a good day on Saturday soaring lift over the top of Hull we hooked a nice convergence Sunday that took us up over Lake Pillsbury and NE into the canyon. Below Charlie is around 8,700' (click to enlarge all), I managed 8,400 this day hitting lift in the 1400'/minute range.

Below you can see the tell tale wind lines where the convergence setup. Strong SW winds met the winds coming down the valley next to Hull right over the LZ. Getting down took some time and reliable sink was hard to find.
This was Trey's first flight at Hull. He drove all the way up last weekend solo only to find no one around. I think there was some Karma in his favor. We drove up together and both managed to come away with 5 or 6 hours of airtime and excellent flights. He took right to the site and tore it up. You better eat your Wheaties if you want to keep up with this "newb". (Trey launching below).

Below: The view to Pillsbury from Hull. LZ is at the lake's edge.
Looking back at Hull. What a great place to fly. A close second to the great flying at Hull is the good company I find up there every time I go. It was great to hang out with the Sonoma crowd as always. I'm looking forward to seeing them again next week at King during the Nationals! Thanks.

Yosemite - Glacier Point

2009-06-15T10:55:00.000-07:00

So this is the best sledder on the planet. We launched at Glacier point around 8:00am and cruised down over 3,000' to the valley floor. Incredible scenery and Yosemite falls was spectacular. More photos to come, but here is a video:

Yosemite, Glacier Point from Ryan Goebel on Vimeo.

Mele's Tandem and Waddell

2009-06-08T22:40:00.000-07:00

This weekend Ben showed Mele an incredible tandem flight off Mission Peak. After gearing up and receiving some basic instruction, they had a flawless launch followed by a 45 minute flight thermalling to 1,500' over launch (3,400' alt.).
They had a crystal clear view to the bay and San Francisco and circled above a pair of juvenile Golden Eagles over Mission Peak. The weather was perfect and the lapse rate created abundant lift. I was really surprised how at ease she was waving down to us during her first pass back over launch.
All that and a perfect landing. Thanks again Ben! Mele, you rock too!
Sunday we headed out to Waddell. Brian Foster came down to try out our little gem and got the full service. It was a really challenging day that started out with a low inversion that slowly raised from 500' or so to 1800' for the pilot with the most stamina (Ben). The "convergence" was shifty and hard to follow but the ceiling wasn't hard to find. Notice the whitecaps/wind direction below on the water, nearly parallel to the cliff face? Waddell is the most confusing and exciting place that I get to fly regularly (15 minutes away).
Ben (above) and I found the North slide area very soarable and went clear to the end. I was flying my new-to-me Litespeed S and I could go on and on about it, but I'll just say it does everything better, faster, and better, oh and faster. I think I'll dump the VG and slow down a bit before my next top landing though (John got a series of me smoking in through some turbulent wind gradient at 2/3, whoops). (Ben's photos this day) What a weekend!

Owens Valley

2009-05-27T17:03:00.000-07:00

(the view north from 5 or so miles North of Walt's)
Memorial Day Weekend. Eric Froelich / WOR put together a great trip for us this weekend in the Eastern Sierras. There were about a dozen pilots in our group from the Bay and Nevada. The Owens really takes your breath away (in more ways than one). It as at once spectacularly beautiful and potentially dangerous. The weather rolls through here like a freight train at times and if you aren't paying attention you could find yourself tied to the tracks. I had two great flights this weekend. 35 and 40 mile flights and got up to 14,000' before leaving lift. Conditions would have allowed me to get even higher, but I was not flying with oxygen and stayed conservative.
Above is my gps flight track for Sunday. It was roughly a 3 hour flight. Incredible views all the while going in and out of the massive canyons. Below is a shot taken from around 13k' of Mount Whitney. The photos really cannot represent the scale of what I saw this trip. Shortly after passing this area I circled up with a redtail at 12,000'. I can't imagine a reason why he would climb so high except for the view. Below, a sailplane climbs out below me over the valley floor.
After being crushed by the Westerlies over the Sierras I headed out with some altitude to spare over the valley. Looking ahead at rapidly building Cumis over the Inyos and over-development further North over the Whites (hwy 395 below). There is a lot of strategy and skill involved in assessing conditions and choosing how/when to cross to the White Mountains to continue heading North. I can't wait to get back and give it another go.
Logistics on a cross-country trip can be quite a challenge, but we were really lucky to have two great chase drivers, J-lin and Sayulita, who managed to find us each day no matter how poor the directions were. They were great fun to have along. (Looking out over Mono Lake).
Unfortunately my little video camera only holds an hour of video but here's a short clip.

I faced a some new challenges on this trip. Reading the skies and making the right decisions to avoid some complicated hazards as well as finding a suitable place to land, when I had run out of lift (best to be near the road, a swimming hole, and beer when possible:)

I really appreciate Ben D. and Brian F. giving me their 2-cents and helping this xc newbie get off some personal bests at "the show." Brian had a great flight up to Bishop and Ben pulled off 126 miles.

Waddell / Ed Levin

2009-04-05T20:22:00.001-07:00

Spent the better part of Saturday kicking rocks at Waddell and rebuilding my Mark IV (my older kite) for more play days down at Marina. The conditions were fickle but we managed to mine some 45 minute flights out of light lift. Above: Trey, Big Sur's prodigal son, gets some airtime on El Norte side.
Sunday was a particularly sweet day at Ed Levin. The day was broken into a few cycles. The first of which was strong South winds providing some ridge lift. I launched a bit later and managed to stay up in some active thermals for 1:20 gaining 1,500' over launch. Conditions further improved following the flush that brought me down and a convergence burst through the inversion behind the ridge allowing one lucky pilot to get to 7k'. Above: Looking North to Mission Peak and Diablo, Below: South over launch. Great day flying with lots of folks I haven't soared with since last season. Also picked up my key to Mission from Roy! Woohoo!

Kagel

2009-03-24T10:54:00.000-07:00

This past weekend Ben, Brian and I made a whirlwind run down to So Cal to pick up Ben's glider and check out one of the classic sites in the area. The locals down there showed us some great hospitality and Kraig in particular generously offered us up a place to stay and took us up to the mountain. Very inspiring to be around so many talented pilots. It really makes me assess the way I fly and how to go about honing my skills. The conditions were not optimal but the good pilots managed to make water into wine. We launched from the peak of the summit at left in the picture above.

There were also over a dozen Condors soaring above "Tower" launch when we got there. A couple of them tracked gliders within 10-15 feet for a minute or so. Ben managed to capture a couple great shots and I included them at the beginning of the video. An amazing site with lots of potential, climbs to 12k and xc options. The photo above looking out from the tower launch.

Marina / Diablo weekend

2009-03-09T22:57:00.000-07:00

Got out to Marina on Friday after work and had a great couple hours with perfect conditions. Saturday Ben and I headed out to Diablo to make circles for the first time this spring (for me anyway). I couldn't seem to get any of my gadgets to work (no photos) but it was a beautiful day with a nice hour and a half flight up and over the summit. Take a look at Ben's blog for some great pictures and report. Sunday we headed back out to Marina for another full day of ideal conditions. I managed to get a photo or two and some video out this day (Ben above, lounging with a view). Great weekend, and spring is finally here!

Ed Levin

2009-03-01T12:01:00.000-08:00

A bit of light ridge lift brought out a mass of desperadoes on Saturday. I made half a dozen passes over the top and then headed south to find my own session spot past the 1200, but unfortunately found a lot of broken lift there and headed down to the LZ before long. Nice to be out though and the wait up top gave plenty of opportunity to tell lies and plan future trips with the best of folk. Finally broke down and bought the wide angle video camera everybody is buying lately. The editing software that came with my computer was easy to figure out but pretty limited.

Mission

2009-02-22T18:39:00.000-08:00

Mission is a great local ridge located in the hills above Milpitas. It offers both ridge and thermal soaring. I had my intro (thanks Ben) a few months back and managed to get out again last month for a flight in the afternoon. I showed up plenty late, but fortunately so did Brian Foster and he took me on up to the top where the cloud base had been hovering just over launch. Eventually it creeped up over the peak and I had a great long flight with unlimited lift to the clouds.
above: Chris V racing North along the ridge trying to get that old T2 to keep up with my tricked out and learned U2;)
below: Some random shots... too bad there's no sound in still shots, you'd hear me whoopin and hollerin'! What a great day.

Diablo

2009-02-22T18:10:00.000-08:00

Mount Diablo, near Danville/Benicia, has been one of the Hang IV sites that I have most looked forward to, and been intimidated by. I had heard so little about it beyond the "really tight 1000' LZ and few pilots actually fly there with any regularity. Dave, John, Brian and I set out to hit this site on a sledder day a month ago to get a feel for the mountain and LZ's before the season really kicks in.

We put a call out to local pilot Robert Moore for a site intro and he obliged us with the full tour of the LZ's and pointed out some of the cross country routes they use. Matt (above on launch), took us up and showed us the two main launches and the 1,000' bailout LZ (it is pretty tight, and requires commitment). The light wind dictated the tower launch and we all had nice cruisers down to a large LZ. The photo below was taken in flight (not sure who that was in front of me). The LZ is down at the base of the quarry.I was busy trying to take in all the features and info that our guides were giving us, so few pictures this time out. I can't wait to fly here again when it is really on. Thanks Robert and Matt!
Dave making the proper approach at our LZ of the day on the North side. After being anxious about a tricky launch, flight, and landing (all of which were great) I sprained my ankle walking my glider past the water basin seen here in the parking lot (Doh!). Looking forward to flying the West side (Juniper launch) on our next trip out.

Point Reyes - Drakes Beach

2009-02-22T15:00:00.001-08:00

Ben, Dave and I turned up at this site a couple months ago and missed the launch window (Ben's entry). The cliff launch can be pretty nasty and full of rotor as you approach the cliff's edge. Dave's glider is visible in the setup area above. This day was much better. Dave and I got off when conditions were just right and soared back and forth along the ridge (maybe a 2-3 mile section?). Scott and Kurt, skilled Sonoma area pilots, were out with their rigids as well. Wire crews are necessary on launch.
above: looking back toward launch from the West, Dave's Sport is visible above the ridge. (click on all photos to enlarge)
above: the view heading out toward the point, you can see that the cliffs begin to bend South. I wonder what a convergence would offer up here?
Nice beach LZ and well manicured breakdown area.. So nice to be in lift again, it's been a long winter.

Mount Tamalpais

2008-12-28T20:29:00.001-08:00

Winter time has offered up few options lately so a group of us met up at Mount Tam. It was my first time out to this site (Just north of San Francisco) and when we arrived it looked dismal. By the time we were set up a window opened and I took off just as the clouds began to clear. Launch is a couple thousand feet over the landing zone at Stinson Beach. It was a sled ride down, but an incredible view (looking North and South toward SF respectively). This marked the 21st site that I have flown over the last year (my goal was 20 for the year!) Life is good.
Below Brian sets up his final approach.
Brian testing the hypothesis that people are like cattle (totally unreactive to hang-gliders flying 30 mph directly toward them). He made a nice landing just short of them.
Below Dave on his base leg approach over the water.
Dave pulling a G or 2 down low.
Chris' folks were in town from Florida and he showed them a flawless approach, while I stood gawking with them (camera in hand, sorry Chris..)

Hat Rim, Burney and Lassen

2008-10-21T10:12:00.000-07:00

This past weekend Mele and I took a trip up to the Burney area. I had heard a lot about the glass-off that happens at the Hat Creek Rim and hoped to get a late season taste of this phenomenon. As soon as the clouds cleared from the sun the streamers began to point straight up and the glass-off was on. I launched at about 4:00pm.The Valley floor is comprised largely of lava rock and heats up during the day. In the evening the cool air seeps into the valley and releases a bouyant lake of air that allows you to boat around the East side of the valley following the ridge North and South. The view below shows the nice large LZ's and the photos above look North and South respectively.One of the best things about flying the Rim is the fact that the lift does not subside until sundown. Nice October sunset in the main LZ. Our second day in the area I made an attempt to fly Burney Mountain. It lies 10 miles due East of the Hat Creek Rim. Spent quite a while searching out the LZ and for various reasons I did not get to launch there this day (next time!). I think it would be amazing to get good early afternoon conditions off Burney, fly up and over the back, and float down into the evening glass off at the Rim... (Still managed to get my evening glass at the Rim after a long day of scouting - thanks Mele!)Above: Burney Summit looking Northwest toward Shasta.

Below: Looking South to Lassen (xc flights have reached the Lassen area)

Monday brought some high winds and we got in some hiking around Cinder Cone Monument/Fantastic Lava Beds on the East Side of Lassen Park. Here are a few photos. We were literally the only people there.

Above: Burney Falls

Below: Sulfur works in Lassen Park.

Marina

2008-10-11T22:05:00.001-07:00

Saturday turned out to be a perfect day at Marina. Winds in at 15+ and nice and Westerly. Great day, great flights and great beers with locals at the pub afterward.
It was easily soarable with abundant lift all the way to the South end (6 or so miles) and back.
Sweeeet!

P.S. Sunday: John and I did a double-header today. Launched at Waddell into an offshore shear (birds were circling up in a huge column right on the line). It was fat and scary rowdy, got up and went down fast. We decided to try our luck at Marina in the afternoon and got off at around 4:00 there. Winds in W @ 13 or so. Flew to the end and got over 1,000' up in shear (no pics unfortunately) till it ended and flew back. The winds died for an easy breakdown at sunset , followed by the obligatory beer at the local pub:)

Pinnacles National Monument

2008-10-07T09:14:00.001-07:00

The other day Mele and I took a trip down Hwy 25 to the Pinnacles National Monument on our way to Morro Bay. It was perfect weather for hiking and aside from a handful of lost French folks we had it all to ourselves. Lots of climbing in the park. Most of it was pretty "dirty", but there are unique features and big jug holds everywhere. I would be a great place to wander around and toprope in the spring/fall.

All of these views are from the East entrance to the park. There are trails that pass to the West cliffs that seem really impressive from the photos in the info center. Next time...We also hiked through a series of caves that seemed to be formed by a combination of water and piled rocks above. We spotted this Red-Legged Frog in one of them. All the caverns made for some interesting natural frames.It is turantula season around here as well. Below is a male out looking for a date. This area is also home to the recently reintroduced California Condors and there is a scheduled release at the East entrance for November 1st. We are hoping to make it back down to get a closer look at these incredible birds. They have wing spans to 10', Ben has some nice shots on his blog of Condors in this area.

As we continued on down the valley we must have seen 60+ wild pigs coming down after the first rain in months. Great trip, and I was once again surprised by a place that is right in my backyard.

Indian Valley

2008-09-03T22:00:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I visited and flew in the Indian Valley area with a group from the bay and reno areas. The informal "fly-in" was put together by Stacy and Carmela and they reserved a large group camp with great amenities for us all to enjoy (thanks!). Indian Valley includes the towns of Greenville and Taylorsville and is one of the most appealing places I have flown so far in California. There are numerous ridges surrounding the valley(s) offering up many challenges for intermediate to the most advanced pilots. Conditions were excellent and we flew 3 of the 4 days we were there.

Above, Steve is climbing out under some nice cumi's. The conditions were deceptively appealing this day and many pilots sank out early. But for those fortunate enough to wait it out it turned on late and Ben and Mike climbed up to over 13k. I managed to get over 9k all three days and had some great views of the valley from the "burn" launch.

Above looking out over the bailout LZ (lower right) towards Greenville. We landed at Bobby's (near the blue spot in the valley). Below, looking out further East toward Taylorsville at the far end of the valley.
The first day out I got a little far down the ridge and decided to just head out to Taylorsville for some easy XC practice. I got a ride almost immediately (with my glider!) from a local rancher.
Saturday the winds kicked up and we decided to do our hang-waiting at the local swimming hole (Indian Falls) on Indian Creek. As good a day as any on the trip.
Monday, we slept in and showed up to Mount Hough around midday to find winds blowing15+ into the Crystal lake basin at the summit. The view was... well... The launch we had hoped to use from behind the lake was not possible given the conditions and I was ready to head home content after a great weekend....

After a while we checked out an east facing launch and wandered all around a challenging bowl area trying to determine true wind direction. Then Steve R. called on a local for a demonstration. The red tail below soared right out in front of us, worked some lift then parked high above the treetops into the wind to make sure we got the hint. Steve and Eric F. wasted no time in setting up and showing us the way. Soon there were 7 of us up over Hough and racing around the valley.Above: Eric Froelich-ing out in front of launch.

Below: Crystal Lake at Hough's summit
Below: Looking over the back side of Hough toward Quincy in the valley.Ben on final at Hough's LZ.
Special thanks to Stacy and Carmela for putting together such great trip, Ben, Eric, that Red tail Hawk and Steve R. for getting us in the air on an epic day!

St. John Fly-in

2008-08-04T09:59:00.000-07:00

St. John is a mountain site just East of Stonyford Ca. The friendly competition/fly-in is held annually and we arrived to find excellent conditions Saturday and a bit of a challenge on Sunday. Around 30 pilots showed up to the meet, with a mix of rigid wings, flex wings and a few paragliders. Below - Vince, Rich, and Kurt line up to launch their rigids.

Rich and Vince (below) find ample lift on Saturday out in front of launch. They flew over 100 miles North for a Fly-in rigid best. Ben Dunn took best of class for flex wing, flying all the way to Red Bluff and a short distance back (60 miles?).

It was my first time at this site, renowned for it's cross-country potential. Initially I was pretty intimidated at the glide out to our primary landing zone. We launched at 6,200' and the glide out is in excess of 8 miles (@ 1,200') direct (the most efficient flight is a bit of a dog leg though). The long glide requires you to find some lift to make it, though there are a few undesirable bail-outs along the way. Fortunately, I got up fairly quickly finding lift in excess of 1,100' per minute (surrounded by equivalent sink) and rose to over 10,000'. The view was incredible aside from some smoke to the North from wildfires. The photo below looks to the East and our LZ is marked in blue.

Below is the view to the West looking over St. John toward Pillsbury Lake and Hull Mountain. To the right (circled) is a sailplane that was working lift below me (he-he!). The blue dot marks the launch. (click to enlarge)

Clouds were forming off the thermals coming up the West face of St. John and offered me some fun contact with fresh cumi's. I lapped out many times speeding to the lift below them and getting sucked up to their base drifting to the East. They would dissipate and I would chase back to the area where they were forming again. Very cool... This photo is looking North as a couple are breaking up.
Overall a great trip with all the usual suspects. Should have taken many more pictures throughout the event, bar-b-que and camping, but I was having too much fun. Had a great time flying a nice swath of mountains and look forward to landing out after covering some good xc distance my next time out.

4th of July - Waddell Creek

2008-07-06T17:30:00.000-07:00

Waddell turned it up to 11 for us on the 4th. We launched around 11:30 and climbed quickly from the 100' launch to nearly 1600'. John is moving up the runway to the launch below (The small strip of white just below where the trail wraps around the front of the bluff). Brought out my new camera this time!

Over the Big Creek Lumber yard and Highway 1. John is on launch below (right of the loop).

Barely visible against the far hill John is working his way up the lift in middle of the valley. Most likely about to get "served" as he approaches Waddell's infamous twanger territory.

Looking East over the ridge behind Big Creek.

Below John is working his way out of the Waddell Valley.

Parked out over the water in abundant lift soaking in the view (North). Looking out over Ano Nuevo to pidgeon point lighthouse on the next peninsula.

Looking South, Monterey in the distance and Greyhound rock below.

After a couple of hours we landed and came back to get great flights Saturday and Sunday (though both days topped out around 800'). I have flown the low bluff many times previously and had some good flights over Big Creek Lumber, but this was the first flight of its kind for me. Lift was abundant and everywhere. I have already forgotten all the days I've shown up and it was blown out and Northy. Waddell is like nowhere else..

Lakeview, Oregon

2008-06-26T20:04:00.000-07:00

We just got back from a trip to Southeastern Oregon near Lakeview where we spent 3 days flying a few different sites in the area. (all pictures courtesy of Gary since my camera broke). We camped just below a site called Black Cap overlooking the town of Lakeview. One afternoon we launched and landed right at our campsite (you can see my glider on the ground near the tents).

Above and below is approach to the landing zone at Sugarhill looking out toward Goose Lake. The landing areas out there are everywhere and the winds in the LZ were smooth coming off the lake. We had great flights here with a couple in our group getting a few thousand over launch and staying up around 2 hours.

Here I'm flaring on final approach.

After flying Sugar a few times our local guide, Ralph, took us to Palisades (a lesser flown site North of Lakeview) The site was full of cliffs with excellent ridge lift but it was blowing pretty strong and had a long glide out to the LZ. It was about 4,000' over the valley and required a 4 mile glide into the wind to the landing. The clouds above show that there are high winds above us. (surveying the site and checking windspeed)

I got to be the wind dummy at this site because my glider had a slightly better glide ratio. The launch was fairly turbulent and I wouldn't have been able to approach the launch and balance for launch without wire support.

Getting off the hill... The lift was strong and I was immediately going up at 1,000' per minute until I got up to around 2,000' over launch.

This photo looks North up the Valley. After working the ridge back and forth awhile I took off from the mountain and landed at the very end of the valley in a fallow field next to the road. I used streamers for the first time on this flight to judge wind direction (dropped from around 1,000').

Below, "specking out" heading across the valley. The view was incredible... I've got to get a new onboard camera going before my next trip.

Special thanks to Harold Johnson for taking us from students to pilots and showing us this amazing place!